 RAIN 12/15: AT&T gets a beat down from Fake Steve Jobs ·Dec 15, 12:40 PM SATIRE/COMMENTARY BLOG TAKES AT&T CEO TO TASK OVER EFFORTS TO SLOW USE OF DATA NETWORKThe criticism came quick and heavy after AT&T last week made public their intention to discourage heavy use of its wireless data network (see RAIN coverage here), likely via “some form of usage-based pricing for data.”
Some of the most pointed (and profanity-laded) barbs are courtesy of “Fake Steve Jobs,” a satire and commentary blog written in the “voice” of the high-profile Apple chief. The message: When you have a hit on your hands, you crank up the supply to meet demand; you don’t destroy demand to fall to the level of your current supply ability. AT&T blamed a small percentage of “bandwidth hogs” that consume disproportionate amounts of streaming video and audio (e.g. Internet radio) for The post to “The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs” blog regales a supposed phone call Jobs made to AT&T CEO/Chairman Randall Stephenson. “Jobs” compares the iPhone (and the burden heavy users are putting on the network) to Capitol Records’ efforts to keep up with demand after the release of the Beatles’ hit U.S. album “Meet the Beatles.” He ends with this: “Right here in your own backyard, an American company creates a brilliant phone, and that company hands it to you, and gives you an exclusive deal to carry it — and all you guys can do is complain about how much people want to use it. You, Randall Stephenson, and your lazy stupid company — you are the problem.” Read the highly entertaining “A not-so-brief chat with Randall Stephenson of AT&T” here, but only if you’re comfortable with, say, the dialogue from a Martin Scorsese or Quentin Tarantino film. NET RADIO TOPS LIST OF AUDIO MEDIA THAT LISTENERS EXPECT TO USE MORE IN 2010When asked to predict changes in their own listening habits, respondents to a new Bridge Ratings study expect the time they spend with Net radio to grow more than other popular audio media. 46% of respondents said they expect to listen to Net radio more in the coming year (that number, by the way, was 42% in 2007 and 38% in 2006). That’s the highest among terrestrial radio, HD Radio, satellite radio, and MP3 players. Only 8% expect to listen to Net radio less than they have been (that’s the fewest who expect to defect). Data from another part of the study shows that the cell phone is closing in on terrestrial radio as people’s “primary mobile medium.” Now, just 30% of respondents call AM/FM radio their primary mobile medium (down from 39% in 2007), while 28% (up from 22%) say their cell phone is tops. Internet radio also showed growth as a “primary medium,” from 17% to 22% since 2007. (By the way, we’re a little confused by this number, as the text of the press release describes this as a question on users’ “primary mobile medium,” and the accompanying chart is titled “Primary Daily Device Used.” So, does this number include any type of Internet radio listening, or only “mobile” or “on a device?”) And while people’s expectation to listen to terrestrial radio more in the coming year has actually grown since 2006, it’s been falling since then for satellite radio and HD. The study, conducted this past summer, is a follow-up Bridge Ratings’ January 2007 survey of consumers’ use of various audio-based media. There’s more on the study here. RADIOTIME, MiROAMER ANNOUNCE NET RADIO TUNER DEALS RadioTime will provide the Internet radio guide and tuner to the new NuVo Music Port Server. NuVo makes “multi-room multi-source distributed audio systems,” and the Music Port Server connects to these systems to deliver Internet and PC-based audio content. The RadioTime Internet radio tuning technology provides a “search and listen” interface for more than 60,000 terrestrial and Net-only radio stations worldwide. Read more here.
MOODY RADIO LAUNCHES iPHONE APPReligious broadcaster Moody Radio, part of the Moody Bible Institute, has just released its own iPhone app for mobile listening. The app enables listeners to tune in all of Moody’s Internet radio streams, all its terrestrial streams (Moody Radio owns and operates 35 radio stations), and mp3 downloads off all of Moody’s national talk programming. The app also sports direct Facebook and e-mail “feedback” links for each station or program. Check out the new app here.share: del.icio.us.  Reddit  Digg  Yahoo  Wink  Windows  Google  Newsvine 
CommentCommenting is closed for this article.  Other stories RAIN has upgraded (and moved)! RAIN 9/13: RAIN Summit Chicago takes place today! RAIN 9/12: First Summit in RAIN's hometown takes place tomorrow RAIN 9/9: Summer holidays, "doldrums" impact July Webcast Metrics, but audience up over last year RAIN 9/8: Clear Channel launches new customizable iHeartRadio beta; RAIN goes hands-on RAIN 9/7: Meet more speakers you'll hear at RAIN Summit Chicago in less than a week RAIN 9/6: Clear Channel taps The Echo Nest to take on Pandora RAIN 9/2: RAIN reviews Spotify's radio-like product Artist Radio RAIN 9/1: UK online radio aggregator Radioplayer campaigns b'dcasters to create "all radio" ratings RAIN 8/31: Execs from Merlin, Triton Digital, jacAPPS and more to appear at RAIN Summit Chicago |
overwhelming its network and degrading service. Some tech experts say the iPhone device itself is partly to blame for its inefficient use of the network. But “Fake Steve Jobs” would likely say that that’s missing the point.
Meanwhile, Geodesic, which creates instant messaging, VoIP
